In the late 1980s, fashion label Polo Ralph Lauren became intertwined with hip-hop culture thanks to the Lo Lifes, a Brooklyn crew founded by rappers Thirstin Howl III and Rack-Lo that dressed head-to-toe in Polo gear. Their brand loyalty spread far beyond its Crown Heights and Brownsville origins: “Everything Polo to the floor though, even at the grocery store though,” Atlanta’s Killer Mike rapped on 2012’s “Butane (Champion’s Anthem).” Each piece in Polo’s 1992 Stadium collection, with its tastefully cluttered, logo-heavy aesthetic—including the “1992” race bib iconography—became a coveted trouvaille for aficionados, the celebration of that year’s Olympic Games morphing into a broader symbol of triumph over competition.
It’s that legacy of sportsmanship and style that Toronto rapper-producer duo Raz Fresco and Futurewave reference in the title of their new album, Stadium Lo Champions. They’re avowed Polo heads—“Lauren Story” is a new Lo Life anthem—and as on their first album, 2020’s Gorgeous Polo Sportsmen, their cartoon likenesses appear dipped in the brand’s designs. The two artists have spent over a decade honing distinct, workmanlike identities: Raz is the streetwise and spiritual Five Percenter, a loop-digging auteur who composed a nine-album series affirming comic book antihero Magneto’s calls for violent revolution. Futurewave is one of the architects of the barren, sinister thump that’s taken hold in pockets of the Rust Belt and greater Northeast’s underground, with a knack for inspiring menacing performances from his collaborators. On Stadium Lo Champions, the duo embraces and updates the ’90s East Coast template for a rewarding take on a classic sound.
The best songs on Gorgeous Polo Sportsmen, like “Gorgeous Gortex” and “God Is Better,” hinted at a lush boom-bap traditionalism that tipped its cap without succumbing to nostalgia. Mostly, though, its tentative jams felt like the product of two talented artists orbiting an idea but never touching down. They subsequently released a substantial body of work separately; Raz’s bleakly psychedelic Marvelous Right Wrist (2022) felt like a turning point, a showcase for his production prowess, pointed storytelling, and curatorial sensibility. Futurewave likewise hit a real stride starting in 2022, dropping great collaborations with Boldy James, Eto, and Estee Nack. They reunite for Stadium Lo Champions with a sharper, more practiced approach and their chemistry blooms, perhaps because the two were able to get together at Raz’s personal studio, the Bakery, rather than trading files over email.
Stadium Lo Champions is full of effervescent, minimalist grooves and largely devoid of the bloodshot tension that’s characterized much of Raz and Futurewave’s previous work. Raz’s hyperactive delivery still seems beamed in from mid-’90s New York, and Futurewave’s drums still crack like cautious steps on thin ice, but there’s more air around each element. On “Olympic Flame,” a flute shimmies through the openings between Raz’s words, distant percussion gently pushing forward. The syncopated jazz sample on “Honestly” nudges against a rigid drum pattern, creating a sense of swing deepened by Raz’s circular flow. There are lots of mentions of microphones and namechecks of Jay-Z and Notorious B.I.G. songs, but Raz can make this golden-era bravado sound exhilarating, like when his rhymes tumble over themselves on “Mind Light”: “It manifest what my mind show when my eyes closed/Not for a like on a phone, a title, or throne/It’s hip-hop that brought the light to my soul/The prototype, ice form on every mic that he hold.”
Despite its clear, spacious mixing, Stadium Lo Champions feels outside time, as if it really were recorded in the ’90s and only recently unearthed from some moldy basement in Park Hill, Staten Island. It hits all the right marks: esoteric slang terms delivered with a bug-eyed, Raekwon-esque flow, snares that sound ripped from dusty dollar-bin LPs, echoing horn samples, and the feeling of cold clinging to concrete buildings. Gorgeous Polo Sportsmen was Raz’s first full-length collaboration with another producer, and though he’s since notched excellent records with Dibia$e, Nicholas Craven, and DJ Muggs, they feel like warm-ups for this rematch. Perhaps it’s their shared Toronto postal code, their respective years of practice, or a shared vision of throwback prestige rap, but Raz and Futurewave both sound more comfortable than they have in some time.
